By Daniela Maffei
Ecopsychology is the study of the human relationship to the whole of the planet and all its living and nonliving entities. Roszac (1992) wrote that the goal of ecopsychology is “to bridge our culture’s long-standing, historical gulf between the psychological and the ecological, to see the needs of the planet and the person as a continuum” (p. 14). It is the study of the human experience in its ecological context (Winters & Koger, 2006). Ecopsychology is a call to psychology to address the problematic behaviors of humans toward the environment as well as to consider pathologies of humans as being associated to a disconnection to their primal selves, the self that was once rooted in the natural rhythms of the earth.
Little research has been conducted in ecopsychology; much of the literature in the field is theoretical, aimed at integrating ecological concepts into the thinking of mainstream psychology. Theodore Roszac (1992), a historian and pioneer of ecopsychology, emphasized that psychology and ecology need each other to pursue its goals of promoting health and harmony among humans and their environments. Moreover, ecopsychology can benefit from integrating the concepts of cognitive psychology, for cognitive psychology may offer perspectives on the minds of humans to answer the pervasive question of why humans are so destructive of the planet at large.
Many writers on ecopsychology have philosophized about the pathological underpinnings of consumerism and exploitation of natural resources. Uses of clinical diagnostics to describe western society on a collective level are common amongst some writers. For example, narcissism is one of the most common ways westerners are described in terms of their relationship with the natural world (Glendinning, 1994; Kanner & Gomes, 1995). Narcissism is characterized by an inflated, grandiose, and entitled self-image that masks a deeper and unacknowledged feeling of emptiness and worthlessness (Kanner & Gomes). Kanner & Gomes illustrate how much of the corporate advertising that infiltrate the consciousness of their target audiences contribute to a “false-self” or a fictious consumer identity, characterized by the grandiose sense of entitlement to the goods they consume. Yet, the consumers are constantly seeking to fill their inner emptiness by consuming more goods. Another notion used is “collective amnesia” (Metzner, 1995, p. 60), which denotes that we have forgotten the attitudes and practices of our ancestors and the ability to empathize and identify with nonhuman life. Metzner also uses autism as a metaphor for our society too.
Stereotyped movements and behavior, restricted range of interests, obsessive routines, preoccupation with parts of objects, absence of imaginative play and lack of awareness of the feelings of others are all typical of autistic children. These characteristics can readily be observed in many adults of industrial society when compared to those brought up in oral cultures. (p. 59)
Human attitudes and behaviors toward the environment vary across individuals and regions as well as time periods. One criticism that can be made of these writers is that they overgeneralize diagnostic attributes to a collective society where exceptions can be readily apparent, for example in the existence of environmental activist groups and organizations. Nevertheless, the way in which individuals and organizations relate to the natural world need not only be explained in terms of pathology.
Cognitive psychology may provide a useful avenue for the exploration of the human-nature relationship. Many of its theories and concepts can be used to understand this relationship. According to Winter & Koger (2004), “inappropriate environmental behaviors can result from inadequate, mistaken, distorted, or missing information about the consequences of our actions, or processing biases and heuristics” (p. 183). Concepts from cognitive psychology that can be applied to ecopsychology can include schemas and mental models, memory distortions, proximal cognition (Winters & Koger), and heuristics.
A cognitive concept that can readily be applied to ecopsychology is the notion of schemas. Schemas are mental frameworks for organizing knowledge and they create a meaningful structure of related concepts (Sternberg, 2006). The schemas that people apply to different aspects of the ecosystem vastly vary. For example, an individual who lives in a rural environment will have a very different schema for aspects of the natural environment than would someone who has lived in a city their entire life. In other words, schemas give rise to differing perceptions about nonhuman beings or things such as a tree can be viewed as either an organism that has its own vital role in the ecological interrelationships that comprises our biosphere, or as a commodity that is to be cut down and processed into paper that also has an important role in the composition of documents, books, money and other purposes. The problem with schemas is that it is probably difficult for certain people to see a forest of trees and not think of its possible uses and financial opportunities. It may also be difficult for other people to go to Kinko’s and not think about endangered forests. Schemas then, set up different expectations and perceptions of the natural world. A goal for cognitive psychology then would be to help people shift their schemas to accommodate alternative perspectives of their ecosystem.
The mental models that many human beings have with regard to the natural world may also be a limiting factor in experiencing biophilia, “the innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes” (Wilson, 1984, p. 1). Mental models are knowledge structures created by individuals to understand and explain their experiences (Sternberg, 2006). “The models are constrained by the individuals’ implicit theories about these experiences” (p. 255). For example, an urban dwelling individual probably has a different mental model of a walk in nature as would a person of an indigenous culture. As a result of these mental models, both individuals would also have different expectations of what they will experience if one should spend the night in the wilderness. The mental models that some westerners have with regard to the environment may be limiting their ability to experience biophilia, especially if they already have preconceived notions about the environment and the kinds of people who interact with it.
Memory distortions are another possible way in which many human beings lose their sense of connection or harmony with the environment. Transience is a memory distortion in which certain memories fade away (Sternberg, 2006). If a person had a positive experience in nature, unless it was profound, it is possible that a while after they return to their normal environment, transience occurs and the person goes about their ordinary life with a vague recollection of the experience or the details that comprised it. When individuals learn about the effects of humans on the endangerment of species, many are immediately concerned. But over time, if the effects of the endangerment is not readily apparent day to day, transience is likely to occur and the person might only remember that some species are endangered but might not remember why.
A limitation in our perceptual capacity, according to Winter & Koger (2004), is proximal cognition which is “the tendency to be more motivated by short-term, concentrated benefits rather than long-term widespread costs (Bjorkman, 1984)” (p. 163). It is difficult for many people to switch over to solar heating, for example, when the short-term cost is so high and the benefits are long-term. We tend to be focused on ourselves in the present which prevents us from engaging in behaviors that have future impacts. However, there is a body of research on the immediate psychological benefits of being in nature (see Kaplan & Talbot, 1983).
The way in which people make judgments and decisions demonstrate bounded rationality, that is, we are rational but within limits (Sternberg, 2006). People make many decisions based on heuristics or mental shortcuts. Representativeness is a heuristic that is common and may also be used in ecopsychology.
In representativeness, we judge the probability of an uncertain event according to (1) how obviously it is similar to or representative of the population from which it is derived and (2) the degree to which it reflects the salient features of the process by which it is generated, (such as randomness). (p. 446)
The frequency in which many conservatives refer to environmentalists as “radical environmentalists” demonstrate the errors in choice of language and are an example of representativeness (Winters & Koger, 2004). Amish people may be judged in similar ways by those who have little exposure to that particular lifestyle. In addition, such errors in reasoning were used against the Native Americans during colonial times when they were witnessed practicing spiritual rituals which often included love and worship of the Earth as well.
The availability heuristic is another mental shortcut used where people make judgements based on how easily they can call to mind what is perceived to be relevant instances of a phenomenon (Sternberg, 2006). Often, a person’s memory of a particular phenomenon is so potent that it can only be available when that category is encountered. Winter and Koger (2004) provide a great example of how the availability heuristic can be used to encourage environmentally responsible behavior. They cited the work of researcher Marti Gonzales and her colleagues when they persuaded people to sign up for energy conservation home improvements.
’They trained California home energy auditors to communicate their findings to homeowners in vivid memorable images. Rather than simply point out small spaces around doors where heat is lost, the auditor would say “if you were to add up all the cracks around and under the doors of your home, you’d have the equivalent of a hole the size of a football in your living room wall.” With such remarks, and by eliciting the homeowners’ active commitment in helping measure cracks and state their intentions to remedy them, the trained auditors triggered a 50 percent increase in the number of customers applying for energy financing programs. (p. 56).’ (p.172)
In some respect, the manipulations used by many salesmen and advertisers could be used to do good for the planet in addition for the good of alternative energy companies. Getting more information out to the public in the form of potent imagery can have a strong effect on the motivations of people to not only behave more responsibly toward the planet, but perhaps to repair the bonds that have been broken by urbanization.
In conclusion, ecopsychology need not stand alone as a forgotten field of psychology. By integrating concepts from other subfields within it such as cognitive psychology and perhaps many others, their influence may be more robust. In addition, if ecopsychology as a field were to behave as a therapist on a macrocosmic level, then it may behoove them to adopt principles of positive psychology as well. Focusing on our pathology and our leaps in cognitive reasoning may only put people on the defensive and may not be much of a motivator for changing behavior. Moreover, psychology as a whole could have a very profound influence on western society and our collective need to take more environmental initiatives by integrating ecological concepts into research and practice.
References
Gendinning, C. (1994) My name is Chellis and I’m in recovery from western civilization. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Kanner, A.D., Gomes, M.E. (1995). The all consuming self. In T. Roszac, M.E. Gomes, & A.D. Kanner (eds.). Ecopsychology: Restoring the earth, healing the mind. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
Kaplan, S., & Talbot, J. F. (1983). Psychological benefits of wilderness experience. In M. A. Gass, Adventure therapy: Therapeutic applications of adventure programming (pp. 44-46). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Roszac, T. (1992) The voice of the earth: an exploration of ecopsychology. New York: Touchstone.
Sternberg, R.J. (2006). Cognitive psychology, 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Wilson, E.O. (1984). Biophilia: The human bond with other species. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Winter, D.D.N., Koger, S.M. (2004) The psychology of environmental problems. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
